Hidden Power
by Wolf of the Black Rose
Summary: There's a fourth dorm on the island. One for only the true best of the best. They had tried this before, but things had gone wrong. Now is the second try, and one duelist will learn that the new dorm still holds old secrets. Secrets he will have to face along with his own.
1. Chapter 1

**Yay, another fanfiction!**

 **Sakura: What's this one about?**

 **You'll see.**

 **Wilma: Wolf doesn't own anything related Yu-gi-oh GX, she just owns her OC's and any cards she makes up.**

 **Let the story begin!**

Chapter 1: A New Breed of Duelist

Welcome to Domino City, home of some of the most famous duelists in the world. It's also home to the Kaiba Dome where the next generation of duelists try out to get into the best dueling school in the world: Duel Academy.

Meanwhile in the city, a young duelist was on his way to do just that. The only problem was that he was running late. He was tearing through the streets, trying to get to the dome before the exams were over. He had short, almost puffy brown hair with a light brown top and brown eyes. He was wearing a black jacket, a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and white and red sneakers. He was currently muttering to himself, going over what he had and his feelings over the situation.

"Okay, I've got my deck, got my gear, and about two minutes to get to the entry exams before they start," The duelist, known as Jaden Yuki, panted as he ran. "At least since I'm not a student, they can't throw in me detention for being late."

He laughed a little at the thought, before sobering up. ' _I'm only going because my parents are sending me there. It's just another boarding school they're dumping me off at.'_ He thought, unconsciously running faster when he felt a weight in his chest.

He was weaving between pedestrians as he ran, barely avoiding them as he went.

Unfortunately, he didn't see a familiar looking man with spiky tri-colored hair wearing old Domino High uniform walking in front of him until it was too late to fully stop.

"Look out!" Jaden called as he tried to stop. Unfortunately, he ended up colliding with the man in front of him, falling backwards and having his cards scattered all over the ground.

"Sorry!" He said quickly, turning to pick up his cards.

The man looked at him a moment before speaking. "You're a duelist, aren't you?"

Jaden turned to answer as he got all his cards picked up. "Oh, yeah, I'm just going to the tryouts for Duel Academy."

The man smiled, his hand reaching into his deck case and taking out a card. "You don't say."

"Yeah," Jaden got up and, when he looked at the man, finally recognized him. "Hey, you're…" before he could finish he was interrupted.

"Why don't you take this? Something just tells me that it belongs with you." The King of Games said, giving Jaden the card.

Jaden was amazed. Here was Yugi Muto, The King of Games, giving him a card. "For real?" He asked, still not believing it.

As he looked at the card, Yugi started to walk away. "Good luck."

"Oh, hey wait!" Jaden called out. "Thank you! I'll make you proud!" He promised and bowed in respect.

Yugi stopped for a moment, then he turned and smiled at Jaden, giving him his signature thumbs up before starting on his way again.

Jaden stared after him for a moment, before he finally took a look at the card he was given. It looked like Yugi's Kuirboh only with little white wings. The card read Winged Kuriboh and it had a pretty handy effect.

Suddenly, he heard a soft ' _coo'_ sound, startling him. ' _What was that?'_ Jaden wondered, looking around for the source of the noise.

As he did, he caught sight of a clock and noticed the time. "Oh no! The exams!" Jaden took off again, sliding the Winged Kuriboh card into his deck case.

 _Kaiba Dome_

The dome was huge and full of duelists. Some were already students while others were eager applicants ready to try out for Duel Academy.

"Once again, all Duel Academy applicants who passed their entrance exams, please report to registration. For those who haven't, better luck next year." Came a monotone voice over the PA system.

' _Yes, and have fun at Duel Monsters community college.'_ Thought a very snide individual sitting with the teachers.

This person had long blond hair in a ponytail, beady little eyes, and pale skin. Even sitting down, he's a tall and skinny man. While the text says male, that's questionable since he's wearing purple _lipstick_ and his teacher's uniform had _pink ruffles_ on the shoulders. His name's Dr. Crowler, head of the Obelisk blue dorm and vice chancellor of Duel Academy. He was not a nice person.

On one of the duel fields, a proctor had just summoned a purple, caterpillar like creature that attacked the opponent directly, who was a kid with light blue hair and silver eyes with glasses wearing a blue school uniform.

' _Oh man, I can barely concentrate with all these academy kids staring at me, judging me. What I wouldn't give to already be enrolled into the school like they are.'_ He thought nervously as he looked up at the stands where students stood watching the duels.

There was another duel going on on a different field. This kid, a girl, had back length black hair in a ponytail, honey brown eyes, and pale skin. She was wearing a pale yellow blouse, a green knee length skirt, white and yellow striped tights, and green boots. Her name was Bella Rose Misawa, though you could call her by either name.

Her opponent had nothing on his side of the field and only 1000 life points left. Meanwhile, Bella was armed with a Violet Witch (1100/1200) and it was her turn.

"Since you have no monsters on your field, I believe it's time to end this! Violet Witch, attack!" The purple spellcaster took aim with her staff, and fired a powerful bolt of magic at her adversary.

The proctor's life points fell to zero and he smiled. "Well done, Bella Rose Misawa. Welcome to Duel Academy."

The girl pouted slightly but bowed. "You don't need to use both names. But thank you."

She walked out and glanced at another field where a boy with similar features to her was dueling.

"Go get 'em, Big Bro!" She smiled.

On another dueling field was a girl with very pale skin, long black hair with bangs, and silver eyes. She's also very skinny due to a high metabolism. She wears a (fake) black leather jacket done in a trendy punk style, with a black and white zebra striped top, black super skinny jeans, and blood red sneakers. Her name was Azura Truesdale.

Her duel was heading towards a similar conclusion to Bella's, except her monster was Magician's Valkyria (1600/1800).

"Alright, Magician's Valkyria, attack him directly!" The magician fired a blast of charged magic at her opponent, ending the duel.

The proctor snorted. "Welcome to Duel Academy, Azura Truesdale."

Azura smiled for a second before leaving. She looked over at the duel field where the blue haired boy was dueling. His duel seemed to have ended with him as the victor, making her sigh in relief. She then glanced over her shoulder at the other side of the arena, where an older boy was standing.

' _We're students now, Cous', like it or not.'_ With that, she headed up to the place where she and her other cousin had agreed to meet.

Another applicant, a boy this time, was about to end his duel. He had soft, short brown hair, creamy skin, and light brown eyes. He's about 5'6" and is described by most of the female population as muscular and sexy. He wears a blue t-shirt with white basketball shorts and blue vans. His name was Eric Rhodes.

He had the one and only Red-Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) on his side of the field while his opponent had a little Fox Fire (300/200) on his side. I think we can all guess how this ends.

"Red-Eyes, finish this!" The dragon attacked the fox and dropped the proctor's life points to zero.

The proctor nodded in approval. "Congratulations, Eric Rhodes. Welcome to Duel Academy."

Eric smiled. "Thank you."

As he left the field, the smile faded and turned into a serious look. ' _Hopefully now I can finally get some answers.'_

"Last call for all Duel Academy participants." came the voice of the PA system again.

Meanwhile, outside at the entrance, a man in a dark suit with sunglasses and two girls wearing the Ra yellow girl's uniform were looking around for any last minute applicants. After a few minutes, the man looked at his watch and made a decision.

"Well ladies, that's it. Mark all the no shows, no shows." He said and the girls started packing up, but they were stopped by a very familiar person.

"Wait! I'm no no show!" A voice shouted.

It came from the guard rail at the end of the parking lot in front of them, which confused them since beyond that was about an eight foot drop. The tree tops near it started to rustle a bit, and up came a certain brunette. Doing a free run jump over the rail, Jaden was on his feet, breathing hard.

"You can count… Jaden Yuki as present… thank you… just as soon… as I catch my… breath." He said between pants. No one noticed the rock tower on the other side of the rail.

After finally catching his breath, Jaden registered and had his deck searched for confiscated cards, then finally went inside.

Back inside, the blue haired kid from earlier had finished his duel and was watching the other duels. Soon, a presence came up beside him. He thought it was his cousin, but when he turned, he saw a brown haired boy who was now engrossed in the duels.

"Wow, look at 'em go." He was looking at a duel going on between a boy his age with black gray hair, slicked back neatly and wearing a whitish gray school uniform, and a proctor.

On the proctor's field wera Gear Golem the Moving Fortress (800/2200) and Big Shield Gardna (100/2600) both in defense mode. On the teen's field was a Vorse Raider (1900/1200) in attack mode and a face down.

"Alright new guy," The proctor called to the boy. "Multiple choice; you have two monsters starring ya down, do you A: throw in the towel, B: beg for mercy, or C: run home to mama?"

"I'll go with D: none of the above!" The dark haired boy announced, revealing a British accent, pressing a button on his duel disk to activate his face down.

"A trap?!" The proctor asked, surprised.

"Exactly. You see, with Ring of Destruction I can destroy any monster on the field that's in attack mode and then we both take damage equal to that monster's attack points." The kid stated with a slight smile, knowing he had won.

A ring of red bombs appeared around Vorse Raider's neck and exploded, dropping the boy's life points to 1300, while the proctor's dropped to zero.

"Clever move, applicant. Welcome to the academy." The proctor said as the holograms disappeared.

"Thank you, oh wise proctor." The boy said dryly as he bowed.

Up in the stands, three boys wearing Obelisk blue uniforms were watching that guy's duel intently.

"Wow, that guy's pretty good, dontcha think Chazz?" A boy with blue hair and glasses said with a southern accent.

"Guess the rumors about him being some kind of whiz kid are true, huh Chazz, huh?" The other boy with spiky brown hair asked with a thick voice.

"He's a punk," The third guy with spiky black hair, known as Chazz, said quite snobbishly. "We went to Duel Prep school for the past three years, we're ready for the academy. These kids don't know what they're getting into, but they'll learn. The hard way, the Chazz Princeton way."

What the three preps didn't know was that they were overheard by a girl a few rows in front of them, though one would think she was engrossed in the book she was reading. She was really skinny, due to a high metabolism, really pale, had long black hair with red streaks, and stormy gray eyes. Her outfit of choice was a black Lolita dress with black tights and dark purple boots. Her name was Bianca Princeton. Guess who she's related to?

' _Really, Chazz? Just because we went to Duel Prep doesn't mean we're better than everyone else here,'_ Bianca silently chastised her brother. ' _Who knows? Maybe a duelist here will knock you off your high horse.'_

Meanwhile, Azura came out of the bathroom and saw the brunette talking to her cousin. When she got closer, she heard they were talking about the duel that just ended.

"That last guy managed to pull off a really gutsy move!" He said, admiring Bastion's technique.

"Yeah," Azura spoke up, getting the boy's attention. "Bastion Misawa. They say he got the highest score on the written exam."

"Wow, I just barely passed." Jaden muttered. Don't be fooled, he was smart, he just didn't care.

"Yeah, me too, my name's Syrus by the way," Syrus introduced himself, gesturing to his cousin. "And this is my cousin, Azura."

Azura nodded in greeting. "Hey, when did you get here?"

"Just now." Jaden answered.

"So, you haven't dueled yet?"

Jaden shook his head.

"Then you might a problem," Syrus spoke up. "I think this was supposed to be the last one."

Jaden just shrugged. "Whatever comes is what is."

"I don't think that's how that saying is supposed to go." Azura pointed out.

"Whatever."

Meanwhile, at the booth where the faculty was sitting, everyone was talking about the new students.

"Looks like we've got a pretty good crop this year." One of them said.

"Yes, indeed." Another agreed.

Crowler just sat there, not really paying attention to the other teacher's talk. He was about to get up and leave when…

"I'm sorry to interrupt," The man from out front appeared stopping Crowler from leaving. "But one last applicant has arrived to take his exam, Mr. Crowler."

"Did you just call me, 'mister'?" Crowler asked with almost a scowl.

"Oh, I'm sorry," The man apologized. "I'm new here Mrs… "

Before he could continue, Crowler interrupted him. "I have a PhD in dueling to earn the title 'doctor' thank you."

If there's one thing about Crowler, he takes his title seriously with what he has accomplished.

He then looked away. "Now tell the truant that he'll have to come back next year."

The other teachers looked at him like he lost his mind. "Oh come on, Dr. Crowler, we have time for one more."

"Yes, let's give the duelist his shot."

As they pleaded with him, Dr. Crowler looked like he was reaching the end of his rope.

"He was just a bit late, that's all."

That did it.

"LATE IS RUDE!" He slammed his hands down, causing the other people around him to jump. "I have no time for slackers!"

Before he could rant further, his cellphone went off. "Yes, and who may I ask is calling…?"

 _"It's Sheppard."_ Answered the voice on the other end.

"Ah, Chancellor Sheppard, how nice of you to call." Crowler greeted in a pleasant tone.

 _"Just calling to make sure everything's running smoothly, Crowler,"_ The chancellor said. _"We wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last year."_

That caused Crowler to look uneasy as he remembered. _"When you cut a third of our applicants for some ridiculous reason. What was it, calling you mister or missus? Never mind, just make sure that everyone gets a fair shot."_

"Yes, of course," Crowler said before hanging up the phone with a scowl. "Furry-chinned windbag!"

 _'Doesn't he realize there are enough talentless flunkies at this academy? But he's the boss, and if he wants to give this scrim shaker a duel, fine.'_ He got up from his seat. "Pardon me, gentlemen, I'll be right back."

"Wait," One of the teachers spoke up, picking up a box of different decks. "Who will be the boy's dueling proctor and which exam deck shall we use?"

Crowler just huffed and walked away. "Leave _that_ to me."

Back with Jaden, Syrus, and Azura, Bastion had come up from his duel to sit down in the row in front of them.

"That was a good duel, Bastion." Azura said leaning on the rail.

Bastion turned to Azura, seeing her for the first time. "Thank you." He said politely.

Before anyone else could say anything, they were joined by a cheerful girl who looked a lot like Bastion. Jaden bit back a groan. If there was one thing he had trouble dealing with was cheerful people.

"Way to go, Big Brother!" She said, glomping Bastion in a hug.

"Thanks!" He choked out, being caught off guard.

The newcomer then turned to the three who were there. "Hiya, nice to meet you! I see you've already met my brother!"

Bastion regained himself by this point. "This is my twin sister, Bella Rose."

"You can call me by either name, I don't mind."

' _I have a sneaking suspicion that nothing can upset this girl.'_ Jaden deducted.

"I'm Azura. This is my cousin, Syrus, and this is Jaden, who we just met."

"Nice to meet you." Bella smiled, looking wide-eyed and leaning on the rail.

Jaden was now feeling a little uncomfortable by how close this girl was in her personal space.

Thankfully he was saved by the bell, or in this case a voice over the PA system.

"Jaden Yuki, please report to exam field four."

"Alright, let's get this over with." Jaden muttered, as he went down the stairs.

"Good luck!" Bella waved as he went.

' _And I'm gonna need it.'_ Jaden sighed.

"He's so relaxed, I wonder how good he is?" Syrus wondered.

"He's going to need to be," Bastion said, looking at the exam field in question. "Look who he's dueling."

Down on the field was none other than Dr. Crowler.

"Whoa, who's she?" asked Bella.

" _He_ is Dr. Crowler; he's in charge of the exams." Bastion replied, smiling slightly at his sister's naivety. "He's also the head of the top dorm at Duel Academy."

"That's a dude." Azura deadpanned.

"Very." Bastion said.

Down on the duel field, Crowler was prepping his duel vest as Jaden up on a platform opposite of him.

On the outside, Jaden looked calm, while on the inside he was freaking out slightly. He had been hoping that the field tests would be in smaller, private rooms, so in case something did go wrong with his duel, his…. abilities wouldn't be on display.

Now, all he could do was repeat his usual mantra of ' _Don't lose control!'_ in his head and end this as quickly as possible.

"Alright, test time!" Crowler said looking at Jaden very confidently. "So, son, your name?"

Jaden looked to the teacher as he replied. "Jaden, Jaden Yuki."

"Well, Jaden Yuki, I'm Doctor Vellian Crowler, Department Chair and Techniques Professor here at Duel Academy."

Jaden raised an eyebrow at the teacher's choice of attire, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. He could also feel his arrogance and knew this was going to be a short but interesting duel.

"Are you ready?" Crowler asked.

Jaden nodded. "Let's do this."

"Duel!" Both players shouted.

Crowler: 4000

Jaden: 4000

"You can have the first move if you want. I don't care either way." Jaden said calmly, surprising the audience.

Crowler was also surprised, but he didn't question it. "Very well."

He grinned when he saw the cards in his hand. "First, I'll play two cards face down, and then I'll play the spell card Heavy Storm! This card destroys every other spell and trap card that's out on the field."

Jaden didn't blink as the wind picked up and both of Crowler's face downs were destroyed. After that dark clouds began to form around his side of the field. Jaden raised an eyebrow, as two gold dragon-worm-like creatures appeared on the professor's side of the field.

The audience was amazed by the two creatures but Syrus was confused. "Could someone tell me what's going on?"

"Those two face downs that Dr. Crowler had out were called Statue of the Wicked," Bastion explained as he observed the duel. "It's a special trap that creates a vicious monster token when it's destroyed by a card effect. That's why he played Heavy Storm."

"Speaking of Heavy Storm, there's no way that's a test desk," Azura deduced, growling. "That's gotta be his real deck."

"How do you know?" Bella asked.

"Of course! Both are rare cards that can change the tide of the battle without any serious costs!" Bastion realized.

They weren't the only ones who came to that conclusion.

"A card that strong couldn't be in one of the test decks, Crowler must be using his own." Torimaki realized.

"Then this duel's over," Raizou said. "No one can beat the deck of an expert like Dr. Crowler."

"Yeah, it's impossible, don't ya think, Chazz?"

"Yeah, what do you think, Chazz?"

Chazz smirked. "I think I'm going to enjoy watching Crowler wipe the floor with our little friend down there. I just wish he had treated all the other second-rate duelists that applied to the academy the same way."

Bianca watched the duel intently, Jaden in particular. ' _There's something different about that kid.'_

Two other duelists were watching the duel, a boy and a girl. The girl had long sandy blond hair and wore the female Obelisk uniform. Her name was Alexis Rhodes. The boy was a little taller than her, had dark blue hair, and wore the third year Obelisk uniform. His name was Zane Truesdale, Duel Academy's top student.

"What an elitist snob," Alexis said. "Bullying some ameteur with his very best cards."

"You're too soft, Alexis," Zane spoke, making said person look at him. "I just hope we get to see that legendary rare card Crowler has stashed away in that deck of his."

"Hey, what I miss?" Asked a voice coming up to them. They turned to see Eric walking over to them.

"Just Crowler abusing his authority, like usual." Alexis wise-cracked, getting a laugh from her cousin.

Eric turned to the duel. "Who's he dueling?"

"Some kid named Jaden Yuki. He's barely said two words since getting down there."

"Mysterious~" Alexis laughed a little at her cousin's antics.

"Ready for your next lesson?" Crowler called to Jaden.

He didn't answer.

"Not much of a talker, are we? Very well. I sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens to summon the Ancient Gear Golem!" In place of the tokens stood a giant robotic creature with the working gears seen clearly. Once against the audience was amazed at the sight of the monster, more so than it's stats (3000/3000).

"There it is! That's his legendary rare card!" Alexis gasped.

"That thing could go toe to toe with Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Eric nearly shouted.

Even Zane's eyes widened a bit. "Now it looks like we're about to find out what makes it so legendary."

"Now, now, I hope you're not too scared of my legendary Ancient Gear Golem." Crowler said sarcastically, ending his turn.

Jaden just stared the monster down. "Nice tin can, but he's not gonna last long."

This shocked many people, including Syrus. "Either Jaden's brave or he's nuts!"

"I'm beginning to think he's both." Azura quipped.

"The kid's got guts, I'll give him that." Eric praised.

"He's staring down that legendary rare monster like he doesn't have a care in the world," Zane said incredulously. "I guess the youth and inexperience have their benefits."

"Give it a rest, Zane," Alexis said, getting tired of his attitude. "At least the kid's showing some backbone."

"There won't be much left to show after this." Zane retorted.

Jaden drew his sixth card before he looked over his hand. "I'll start by playing Polymerization, fusing Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

Two monsters, a green bird man and a gray skinned woman in a red bodysuit, appeared on the field before they fused together. They were replaced by a new monster with the same color scheme as Avian and Burstinatrix and had one of Avian's wings. The only things that were original to this monster was that it's right arm was shaped like a dragon's head and a dragon's tail (2100/1200).

"Then I'll activate this: The field spell Skyscraper!"

Buildings you would find in big cities like New York literally started sprouting up on the field. In the middle of it, Crowler's Golem looked like a giant monster attacking the city. Jaden's Wingman was perched on the highest building's lightning rod with his arms crossed.

"Now, Flame Wingman," Jaden called out. "Attack that Ancient Gear Golem with Skydive Scorcher!"

 _ **"Right away, Jaden."**_ Flame Wingman jumped from the building he was standing on and dove toward Crowler's monster, weaving in and out of building.

"Fine by me, bring him on!" Crowler said like he wasn't worried. "This silly little Skyscraper field spell hasn't lower my Golem's attack by one point!"

Flame Wingman then landed on the ground in front of the Ancient Gear Golem before leaping into the air again.

"That wasn't the plan," Jaden revealed. "Since my hero is battling another monster with higher attack points, this spell raises my hero's attack by 1000!"

"Wait! Timeout!" Crowler cried, but it didn't stop Flame Wingman's attack as he launched himself at the Ancient Gear Golem, his body covered in flames (2100-3100/1200).

Crowler was freaking out as Jaden's monster slammed into his, making it burst to pieces.

Crowler: 3900

Jaden: 4000

' _Thank goodness nothing caught on fire this time.'_ Jaden sighed a little in relief.

"No, it can't be! He was my very best card!" Crowler cried before being hit in the head by a piece of debris.

' _And I'm not sorry about that.'_

"Oh, by the way, you should probably know about my Wingman's special ability," Jaden said, his monster landing back in front of him. "When he destroys a monster in battle, the attack points of that monster get dealt straight to your life points."

"No way…" Crowler muttered.

Just as he said that, the remaining shell of Ancient Gear Golem fell on top of Crowler, despite trying to get out of the way.

A small part of Jaden was hoping he would be able to get back up.

Jaden: 4000

Crowler: 900

"And I'm not done," Jaden said before holding up one more card. "Now I activate the spell De-Fusion to separate Flame Wingman back into Avian and Burstinatrix."

Flame Wingman vanished and in his place were the first two monsters he used (1000/1000) (1200/800).

Crowler's eyes widened as he got up.

"No!" He cried.

"Now I've got two monsters that can attack directly. Guys, you know what to do." Jaden commanded.

 _ **"As you command."**_ Avian nodded.

 _ **"Let's end this!"**_ Burstinatrix said.

They shot a combined attack of wind and fire at Crowler, and knocked him to the floor again.

Crowler: 0

Jaden: 4000

"Looks like I pass the test." Jaden said casually.

As the holograms faded, a lot of people were stunned that Jaden had beaten a teacher, who was using his real deck, in a duel, and managed to pull off an OTK.

Crowler was dumbfounded by the whole thing. He was beaten by an amatuer who was also late.

"Impossible," He seethed. "There's no that this delinquent could beat me!"

Up in the stands, Chazz and his flunkies were just as shocked.

"It must be dumb luck," Chazz muttered through clenched teeth. "No way Crowler would lose to some flunky!"

Bianca just kept staring at Jaden, like she could figure him out just by staring at him.

Alexis was smiling at Jaden's win. "That kid's got a future here."

"I'm with you there, Lex!" Eric nodded.

Zane just huffed and walked away.

Syrus was cheering for his new friend. "Yay! Way to play, Jay!"

"Now that was really impressive." Azura smiled.

"Good job, Jaden!" Bella clapped.

 _'Nice,'_ Bastion thought. _'I could use the competition.'_

Jaden was surprised by the people cheering for him, but he waved back a little feeling shy. He then left the field and found a spot in the hall to have a moment to himself.

He took out his Winged Kuriboh card and looked it over again. "Sorry I didn't get the chance to use you, Winged Kuriboh, I just didn't want to prolong that duel any longer than I had to."

He scowled, remembering the arena. "They cheer now, but once they find out about _that_ they'll be just like everybody else. All the teasing and name calling will start up again."

While Jaden was thinking, Winged Kuriboh appeared in spirit form. He 'cooed' in his little Kuriboh language, trying to speak words of comfort to his new master.

"Crying? What are talking about-" As Jaden was talking, he felt something wet on his face. Lifting his hand to his face, he realized he _was_ crying.

It wasn't because he felt sad, it was more like frustration. He just wished people would understand just how badly their words hurt him. He hides it behind a cold indifference, but he really does feel the emotional hurt people want to inflict.

Taking a few deep breaths, Jaden calmed down and wiped away his tears. He then turned to his newest spirit and smiled, one that was reserved only for his spirits. "I'm fine, Kuriboh, really."

The little spirit wasn't so sure, but he nodded anyway. "Let me go get my bag and then we can leave."

Then he and his new spirit partner walked off. What they didn't know was that they were being watched by Bianca.

' _So, Jaden can see spirits,'_ She thought, glancing at the Flying Penguin spirit beside her. ' _Good call, Flyer.'_

The penguin squawked. ' _Looks like you and I are a lot alike, Jaden Yuki. Maybe we can help each other.'_

Meanwhile, Zane was on the phone with the chancellor talking about Jaden's duel. After Crowler got off the field, he and the teachers noticed his coat was singed like it had been burned. This left them quite confused, though Zane had a suspicion.

"I have some candidates for the new dorm sir, but one in particular stands out."

" _Who?"_

"Jaden Yuki."

 **And that ends that, right in the middle of Criminal Investigation.**

 **Caden: Not that anything's happening…**

 **Yeah, my teacher can go on with stories, but she's fun! Will update these soon, hopefully we'll all still be alive when I do given how crazy the world's going.**

 **Nicholas: Our idiot of a president just armed Syria!**

 **Greeeaaat! Anyway, read, review, and stay tuned.**


	2. Chapter 2

**And here we are for the next chapter. Now, we're on the island and picking up pace.**

 **Michael: Wolf doesn't own anything related Yu-gi-oh GX, she just owns her OC's and any cards she makes up.**

Chapter 2: Welcome to Duel Academy

A few days after the entrance exams, the students that passed the exams were on a plane in route to their new school. They were all excited about the new people they would get to meet and duel.

Bella was reading a book in the seat next to Syrus, who was staring out the window. Azura was sitting next to Bastion near the middle of the plane, both were also reading. Jaden was sitting by himself near the back of the plane, dozing in his seat.

 _"Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking,"_ Said a voice over the intercom. _"If you look out your window you'll your new home away from home."_

Most of the students did just that and got a good look at the island. It was mainly green due to all the forest areas and there was even a dormant volcano. But the main attraction was the main building near the center of the island. It was silver, with four gold spires surrounding it. Looking closely, you could see three roofs, blue, yellow, and red, in that order, coming off the main building.

 _"Quite a site, isn't it. Okay, please fasten your seatbelts and set your seats in an upright position. Next stop, Academy Island!"_

 _Some time later_

After they got to the island, everyone separated to change into their uniforms. Bella, Syrus, and Jaden were wearing red uniforms, Azura and Bastion were wearing yellow uniforms, and Bianca and Eric were wearing blue uniforms. Bella and Eric's uniforms were standard, Bianca's was standard with black tights and white parts of the uniform dyed black, and Azura had the standard top with black jeans and the white parts dyed black.

They were all soon standing in a large classroom, like you would find at a university. Everyone was standing by color of their uniforms.

Seconds later, a man in his mid to late forties appeared on a giant screen in front of them. He was bald with a goatee and wore a red blazer darker than the others over a shirt and tie

 _"Good morning and welcome my students,"_ He said in a pleasant tone. _"I'm Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here at Duel Academy, and you are the best and and brightest duelists in the world. Now please get yourselves settled in to your assigned dorms. I hope you find them quite comfortable, depending on how you ranked of course."_

The students then walked out of the main building and headed off toward their dorm room assignments. Jaden walked outside looking through his Duel Pilot, a silver PDA they give to all the students.

"Looks like I'm in the red dorm." Jaden said to himself, looking through the information. He looked around, hoping he didn't see anyone from one of his old schools.

Jaden had lost count of how many boarding schools his parents had shipped him off to. It wasn't as though he was a problem child, it's just that he wasn't… normal. And his parents just didn't want to deal with him.

Since Jaden was so busy with his depressing thoughts, he didn't see the person in front of him until he bumped into them. He looked and saw it was those guys he met at the entrance exams, Bastion, Syrus, Azura, and Bella.

"Sorry." He said, looking elsewhere.

"It's alright." Bastion assured him.

"So, Jay, you're in Slifer, too?" Bella asked him.

"Uh, yeah." He answered, feeling shy around these people.

"Then come on!" Bella urged, getting up from where she was sitting on one of the statues. "I wanna go check out our dorm!"

Jaden wasn't sure how to respond to that. He was headed that way anyway, but he was kinda hoping to be alone. Since he didn't have an excuse to avoid them, he nodded. "Okay."

"Alright!" Bella cheered, walking on ahead.

"Hey, wait up!" Syrus called, trying to catch up.

"You guys in another dorm?" He asked the remaining two off hand.

"Yup," Azura nodded. "Our dorm's in the other direction."

Jaden nodded before walking away.

"See ya around, Jay!" Azura called after him.

He just waved as a sign of acknowledgment.

 _Slifer Dorm_

The three newly made Slifer reds found the dorm building. But the place hardly seemed like a dorm, it was more like an old motel with two floors and peeling paint.

Syrus had very different opinion about it. "This isn't a dorm, it's an outhouse with a deck!"

But Bella loved it, leaning against the railing to look at the ocean. "This place is great! Check out the view!"

Jaden was a mixed opinion. Sure the view was great, but the dorm looked like it was about to collapse.

Bella then moved away from the railing to find their rooms. "This one's yours. Mine's next door."

The room had a long, two-seater desk along the left wall, a window right across the room from the door, a three-person bunk bed along the right wall, and a small stove for cooking.

"The dorm's co-ed?" Syrus asked surprised.

"I'm rooming with someone?" Jaden added.

"Looks like it!" Bella nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go check out my room."

She left to the room next door, leaving Jaden and Syrus to see their room. Jaden, not liking the awkward silence, walked over to the curtains, letting the light stream in. "Let's get some light in here."

"Hey! Those were closed for a reason." Came an angry voice from the top bunk.

"Sorry." Syrus said.

"Yeah, we didn't see you up there." Jaden added.

"Well can you see me now?!" The covers pulled back revealing an angry, heavy-set boy with a face and hair that made him look like a koala.

Syrus suddenly screamed in fear at the sight of the other boy. He clung to Jaden, knocking him over since he was in shock. "Will you stop your screaming?! Who are you and what are you doing in my room?!"

"What's going on?" Bella reentered the room, probably because she heard the screaming.

Chumley looked at Bella and was surprised to see a girl in Slifer Red. "Oh, hi, I-I'm Chumley." He stuttered a bit, trying to get over his surprise.

"Nice to meet you, Chumley. I'm Bella Rose, you can call me by either name." She introduced herself.

"I'm Jaden." The hero duelist said, pushing Syrus off of him as he got up.

"And I'm Syrus. Jaden and I are your new roommates."

"Oh, okay. Since you're new here, lemme tell you some things." Chumley said.

"Like when parents visit is?" Syrus asked.

"Duh, like how the whole color thing works. That's more important than anything," The older boy began to explain. "There are three kinds of students here. There's the Obelisk Blue students, the Ra Yellow students, and the Slifer Red students. Now, the Obelisk Blue students are the highest ranking students. Most through grades, others through connections. Ra Yellow students are really gifted kids with lots of potential. And then, there's us, the Red Wonders…"

"The Wonders," Syrus murmured. "That doesn't sound so bad."

Chumley just continued. "As in 'I wonder how reject like us ever got this far'. Sorry, but a lot of people look down on us because we're the lowest rank."

"You sure color's that big of a deal? I managed to beat Crowler in one turn and I'm in red." Jaden asked a matter of fact way.

"You beat Dr. Crowler?!" Chumley nearly shouted.

"Yeah." Jaden replied, not getting why Chumley was freaking out.

"Uh, Jaden, was it? Believe me when I say, Crowler is not an enemy you want to have! Especially if you're a Slifer!" Chumley said, now slightly panicked.

Jaden just blinked, either still not getting it or just not caring.

"Anyway, if you're done, Chumley, I was going to ask Syrus and Jaden if they wanted to explore the school with me. Since you seem to be a third year, mind being our guide?" Bella asked.

Chumley was stunned, but shook it off. "Okay, I guess."

 _Main Building_

The made their way to the main building. As they walked, Bella saw a familiar Ra girl heading toward the building.

"Hey, Azura!" She called out causing the boys to look in the direction she called to.

Azura had been heading towards the main building to look around, when she heard a very familiar voice. She turned around to see her cousin, along with Jaden and Bella, and a boy who reminded her of a koala.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I'm just wondering if you want to look around the school with us?" Bella asked.

Azura shrugged. "Sure, why not, I was heading that way anyway."

"Great, let's go take a look inside!" Bella said, leading the way.

"You and Bastion are complete opposites aren't you?" Azura asked.

"Yeah," Bella nodded. "Bastion thinks with his head and I think more with my heart."

The walked the halls, just picking random directions to go. Chumley every once in awhile pointed out where they were and what was in the different rooms. The group soon came upon a large room, realizing it was an arena. The place was huge, with stands all around the walls, and a dueling platform in the middle with wires coming out of the base.

"Wow, this is awesome!" Bella said, jumping up onto the platform.

"Yeah, totally state of the art." Syrus was looking at the field technology.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter where you duel thanks to these duel disks." Azura noted.

"Is this the main duel arena?" Jaden asked Chumley, noticing that the koala boy was looking anxious about something.

"Yeah, but we really should get out of here!" Chumley said, his voice shaking slightly.

"Why?" Bella asked. "We're students here and this is our campus."

"Wrong, this is the Obelisk Blue's campus. No Slifer Slackers or Ra Rejects allowed!" Came a very snide voice.

They all turned to see two guys in Obelisk blazers. They were same guys who were hanging out with Chazz; Taiyou and Raizou.

"Oh, really?" Azura said, not liking these guys at all.

Jaden narrowed his eyes. He didn't like being with people, but he didn't like guys like them even more. He had had a lot of experience dealing with guys like them and it never ended well for either party, especially him.

"That's right," Raizou pointed behind them. "Check out the crest!"

They turned to see a large symbol in the shape of Obelisk the Tormentor's head above the entrance to the duel arena.

"This is Blue territory. No Reds or Yellows allowed!" Taiyou sneered.

"Oh, sorry, we didn't know, but we'll go now, right guys?" Syrus said, sounding nervous, while Chumley looked about ready to sneak out and get away from the situation.

"No, we don't," Jaden said, moving to stand beside Azura. "Who wants to bet that if I call campus security about it, they'll ask these two to take it down."

The Obelisks just glared at him for that. He returned the glare twice as hard, which caused the Obelisks to get uneasy.

Then, the one with glasses got another look at Jaden. "Hey, you're that kid!"

Before anyone could say anything, the brown haired snob turned to someone up in the stands. "Hey, Chazz! The applicant who beat Dr. Crowler is here!"

The gang turned to see a taller boy in blue with spiky black hair and cold gray eyes staring down at them, specifically at Jaden.

Bella stared back at the boy for a few moments then waved at him. "Hi, I'm Bella and your name is uh … Chuzz was it?" She asked, looking at the Obelisk snobs.

Chazz wasn't amused and growled a bit.

"He's Chazz Princeton and he was the number one duelist back at Duelist Prep School, so you be sure to pay him the proper respect!" The blue haired teen snapped.

Bella cringed, she didn't like bullies or being snapped at. When Jaden saw it, it made him angry and he wasn't sure why.

His friend nodded. "He's gonna be the next King of Games, the best duelist in the world!".

Jaden scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, in Prep School."

"Say what?" Raizou asked confused.

"There's always someone better than you. Getting knocked flat on your back's a good way to learn that." Jaden explained.

The Obelisk boys stared them before laughing at what they heard, but for a not so nice reason.

"Oh, here we go…" Azura muttered.

The two boys then stopped laughing and then glared at Jaden. "You saying you're better than Chazz, Slifer slacker? Yeah, right!"

It was taking all of Jaden's willpower and restraint not to _do something_ to the two in front of him.

"Can it, you two!" A cold voice snapped. Chazz walked down the ramp a bit to get into their view some more. "Maybe the new kid has a point."

"Uh, whatcha mean Chazz?" Taiyou asked, confused.

"He did beat Crowler after all … and that legendary monster of his. I suppose that takes some skill."

"Um, thanks?" Jaden said, confused at the compliment.

"Or was it luck? I say we figure that right now." Chazz said in a cocky tone.

"You read my mind." Jaden said, with a very serious tone in his voice.

"Well, this certainly is a motley crew." said a new voice.

They all turned to see three more Obelisks walking towards. Two girls and a boy. It was Alexis, Bianca, and Eric.

"Who are they?" Syrus asked.

"No idea." Bella answered and Azura shrugged.

Chazz smirked. "Hey, Alexis, Eirc, Bianca. You come to watch me mop the floor with my new friend, Jaden? I promise it'll be a short match, but an entertaining one."

Eric just glared. "And here I thought you were above picking on girls." He said, taking note of the females in the room.

Chazz blushed and Azura smiled.

Alexis crossed her arms and lightly glared at him. "We came to remind you guys about the Obelisk's Welcome Dinner, you're late."

"Oh, yeah, come on guys." Chazz muttered and walked off with his lackeys in tow.

Alexis turned to the group. "Sorry if Chazz rubbed you the wrong way, not all of us Obelisks are like that. He's just a jerk, especially with Slifers."

"It's okay!" Alexis was startled by Bella's words, along with the others. "Types like them don't bother me much anymore. The best way to deal with bullies is to ignore them. Besides, I bet I could take him down in one turn!"

"We need to work on that overconfidence." Syrus pointed out.

Chumley just stared at her.

The Obelisks, Azura, and Jaden stared at her too, then Alexis, Eric, and Azura just started laughing and Jaden and Bianca actually cracked smiles.

"What's so funny?" Bella asked, confused.

"Anyway," Eric spoke once he got over his giggle fit. "I suppose we should introduce ourselves. I'm Eric Rhodes and this is my cousin Alexis."

Azura nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Azura, and this is my cousin Syrus, and his roommates Jaden and Chumley."

"And I'm Bella Rose," Bella waved. "You can call me by either name."

Bianca was just watching and making signs with her hands.

Jaden noticed this. "Nice to meet you, Bianca."

"You know sign language?" Eric asked, noticing what she was doing.

Jaden nodded.

Bianca started signing again while he translated. "She says her name's Bianca Princeton and she apologizes for having the displeasure of meeting her brother and his lackeys."

"If she doesn't mind me asking, how come she signs? Is she deaf?" Azura asked.

Bianca shook her head and signed, "No, she's mute. She talks through sign language or by writing things out. She also has a computer type device that talks for her, but she doesn't like how robotic it sounds."

Azura nodded before turning to go. "Well, since the dinners are starting, I better head back to my dorm. See ya."

"See ya later, Azura!" Bella waved after her.

Alexis then remembered something. "Oh, the Slifer Welcoming Dinner is starting too."

"Well then, we better get there before the food's gone." Bella said before running down the exit tunnel.

"Hey, wait up!" Syrus called as he ran after her.

Chumley was right behind them, muttering something about never understanding girls. Jaden brought up the rear.

Bianca stared after Jaden as he left. ' _I do hope we can be friends, Jaden. The Egyptian Gods know we could use them.'_

 _Later That Night_

Dinner had been surprisingly good. Jaden didn't realize how hungry he was until food was actually placed in front of him. That's what you get when you skip breakfast just because you don't want to deal with your parents.

After dinner was over, he snuck out to take a walk around the island. He has had enough of people for a while and wanted some alone time. He had found a few good secret spots to keep in mind, right now he was in a small cove near the lighthouse.

He was sitting on one of the large rocks, watching the waves come and go. He also had his shoes off, kicking his feet in the water while he watched the stars.

He was more relaxed than he had been all day. He kept looking at the other students for people he recognized. The last thing he needed was a scene being made of what a freak he was.

That thought made Jaden sigh. He didn't hear any whispering now, but he knew it was only a matter of time. Plus, there was that whole thing with Chazz. He didn't strike Jaden as the kind of guy to take an "insult" lying down.

Jaden heard a 'coo' sound. Winged Kuriboh appeared a few minutes later. "What is it, Winged Kuriboh?"

The little creature pointed over to the docks. "Where?"

Jaden moved to get a better look and saw a figure standing by the lighthouse. They were male and on the tall side. He had shoulder length dark blue hair and was wearing a third year Obelisk uniform. He wasn't doing anything, he was just standing there, watching the night.

"Who's that?" Jaden wondered.

Suddenly, a beeping-ringing sound went off, making Jaden jump and nearly fall off his rock. When he calmed down, he realized it was his Duel Pilot signaling he had a video message. Turning it on, it turned out to be a video message from Chazz.

 _"Hey, Slifer slacker, don't think you're off the hook. Tonight at midnight, it's on. Oh, and why don't we make things interesting? Whoever wins gets the other guy's best card."_

"I had a feeling Chazz was going to do something," Jaden muttered, getting down off the rock. "Chazz's asking for it."

Kuriboh hooted, concerned. "Don't worry, Kuriboh. He's not getting my cards, over my dead body."

Thankfully, he already had his duel disk with him, for… protection. After getting his shoes on, he strapped it on and stood up. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then started to fade like he was a hologram until he was completely gone.

This act didn't go unnoticed by the young man at the docks. Nor, by Bianca who was passing through.

She had also overheard the message and knew who to call.

 _Obelisk Arena_

"Who would have thought I would finally find a use for one of my powers?" Jaden said to himself as walked through the halls.

Teleportation was one of the abilities he had. He couldn't use it when he was running late for the exams because in order for it to work he has to see and know where he's going. He'd never been to the dome before.

Jaden reached the arena and found Chazz and his flunkies on the other side of the arena. "Well, well, well. He shows."

"I was still up and had nothing better to do." Jaden walked over to the platform and climbed on.

"Time to find out if you beating Dr. Crowler was a fluke or a fact." Chazz said.

"Yeah, whatever," Jaden responded. "Let's see if you have the skill to backup your talk and rank."

"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure to have your best card ready to hand over when you lose." Chazz sneered.

"I didn't agree to the stacks," Jaden said. "I just wanted to shut you up."

Both duel disks were now on and their opening hands had been drawn. "Duel!"

Jaden: 4000  
Chazz: 4000

"All right, Slacker," Chazz drew his card and looked over his hand. "For my first move, I'll summon Reborn Zombie in defense mode."

Appearing was a decaying zombie wearing a tattered cloak with gray hair and no eyes. Also, the bones on his right hand and foot visible (1000/1600).

"And I'll also place one card face down." A facedown card appeared behind the zombie.

"I'm up!" Jaden said. He drew his card and looked over his hand.

As he did, he heard a familiar coo sound and looked to see that his Kuriboh card had moved a little as if peeking out from hiding. _'Hey, good to see you Winged Kuriboh. I'm going to think that drawing you my first turn was a good omen. Hopefully, I can end this quickly...'_

He took a card from his hand. "I use Polymerization, fusing Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix!"

The hero duelist held up the cards of the two aforementioned heroes before they appeared in a flash of light. They then jumped into the air and started to glow.

"Now, appearing to defend those in need, here is Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" After a bright flash, in the place where the last two heroes stood, stood the monster from Jaden's first duel (2100/1200).

 _ **"Let's go!"**_ Wingman called.

"I don't usually go on the offensive first, but there's a first time for everything."

Chazz just smirked. "I was hoping you'd do that…"

"Why's that?" Jaden asked, not liking the sound of that at all.

"Because the card I played face down was a trap card, Slacker, that you set off!" Chazz gloated.

Jaden growled, he hated being outfoxed.

"Chthonian Polymer, do your stuff!" The face down rose up to show a picture of a man wrapped in flames.

"Wow, Bianca called it!" Jaden glanced back and saw Azura, Alexis, Eric, Syrus, Bella, and Bianca walking in, Azura being the one who spoke.

"What's Chthonian Polymer's stuff?" Syrus asked.

"Chthonian Polymer is a nasty trap. It allows you to take control of an opponent's fusion monster by sacrificing one of your own creatures." Alexis explained.

"Oh no, Jaden just summoned a fusion monster!" Bella realized.

"I sacrifice Reborn Zombie to gain control of your Wingman!" Chazz said, smugly.

His monster burst in a flash of light. Then Jaden's favorite hero disappeared in a smaller light flash and reappeared on Chazz's side of the field. Only it's colors were darker and it had a dark raging aura around him.

"Uh, my monster!" Jaden grunted. _'Okay, screw control, he's toast!'_

"Guess Chazz did his homework, for once." Eric said, Alexis snickering at that.

"Still, since that Wingman was a special summon, that means I'm allowed to summon another monster during my turn." Jaden countered, looking back at his hand. _'Not that anything in my hand is a match for the Wingman…'_

Chazz was smirking up a storm. He had the monster responsible for Crowler's defeat on his side of the field and he was enjoying every minute of it.

 _'Go on, you Slifer slacker, play another monster. After all, I haven't forgotten the Flame Wingman's superpower!'_ He thought deviously as he watched Jaden choose a card from the three left in his hand.

"All right, I summon Elemental Hero Ice Edge in defense mode!" Jaden declared as he summoned a child-like hero in a blue bodysuit with white gauntlets, a spiky white headdress, spiky white shoulder plates, white boots, and green eyes (800/900).

 _ **"Okay, I'm confused. Why's Flame Wingman on the other side of the field?"**_ Ice Edge asked curiously.

' _Trap.'_ Jaden stated in his head.

 _ **"Oh."**_

"Then, I place one card face down," Jaden finished. "There…all set."

Chazz drew his next card. "Yeah, setup to get knocked down! Rise, Chthonian Soldier!"

A man in dark armor with a large sword appeared next to the stolen Wingman (1200/1400).

"And now, Flame Wingman, attack with Skydive Scorcher!" The winged hero jumped into the air, flames covering its body, and dived down at the little hero.

"I activate my trap, Negate Attack! This ends the battle right here!" Jaden said.

Chazz sneered, but kept his composure. "I set a card facedown and end my turn."

Jaden drew his card. "First, I play Card of Sanctity! Now we both draw until we have six cards!"

Both players drew their cards.

"Then, I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman!" This hero appeared human wearing a blue and gold suit with a curved blue helmet (1600/1400).

"Next, I'll switch Ice Edge to attack mode and activate his special ability. By discarding one card, he can attack you directly." Ice Edge dashed forward and punched Chazz in the gut.

Chazz: 3200  
Jaden: 4000

Chazz coughed a little from having the air knocked out of him. ' _That was pretty realistic for a hologram.'_

"Also, when Ice Edge inflicts damage from a direct attack, I can destroy one of your facedowns." Jaden added.

Chazz growled as his facedown was destroyed.

"Alright, Sparkman! Attack with Static Shockwave!" The new hero shot a bolt of electricity at the dark armor monster and destroyed it.

Chazz: 2800  
Jaden: 4000

As the smoke cleared, the soldier's sword rose above them and flew straight at Jaden, hitting him in the stomach. Jaden almost doubled over from the pain, but managed to stay on his feet.

"Surprise, slacker! When Chthonian Soldier is destroyed, you take the same amount of damage to your life points that I did."

Chazz: 2800  
Jaden: 3600

"You're still in this, Jay!" Bella encouraged.

"Shake it off, Hero Boy!" Eric said, also giving motivational support.

"This isn't over Chazz!" Jaden mentioned. "I set one card face down and end my turn!"

"Play what you want!" Chazz said, drawing another card.

"Go, Flame Wingman!" Flame Wingman's body began to be covered in flames again.

Jaden smirked. "I don't think so! I activate my trap!"

"A trap?" Chazz said incredulously.

"It's Mirror Gate!" Syrus said in awe.

"Than Jaden's still in this duel after all." Alexis deduced Jaden's strategy. "Mirror Gate makes two monsters in a battle switch which side they're on. So that Wingman is back with Jaden."

"Alright!" Bella cheered.

As she was talking, Ice Edge appeared on Chazz's side of the field and Flame Wingman appeared on Jaden's side. The two heroes leapt at each other and grappled in the air, with sparks of both their powers flying. It didn't take long for Ice Edge to succumb to defeat and be destroyed.

"NOOOO!" Chazz cried as he lost his advantage and some life points.

Chazz: 1500  
Jaden: 3600

"And don't forget my Wingman's super power! You take damage equal to the attack points of your destroyed monster!" Jaden reminded him as Wingman sent remains of Ice Edge's power back at Chazz, who yelled in pain as his life points dropped.

Chazz: 700  
Jaden: 3600

"Alright!" Syrus and Bella cheered.

"Guess Chazz isn't as good as he thinks he is." Azura mused.

"Nice moves, Jaden." Alexis praised and Eric nodded in agreement.

Bianca kept an impassive expression, but inside she was concerned. Her brother wasn't the type to get dramatic during a duel, it looked like he was actual pain.

"More like lucky moves if you ask me, you Slifer school scum." Chazz retorted, glaring daggers at Jaden as he played his next card.

"Alright, I activate Chthonian Blast! Since you destroyed one of my monsters I get to destroy one of yours and you take damage equal to half of it's attack points." A tornado formed around Flame Wingman and then he burst into pixels.

Chazz: 700  
Jaden: 2550

"Flame Wingman!" Jaden gritted as his monster was destroyed.

"Now, I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted!" Chazz continued as his second face down popped up revealing a haunted graveyard.

"It lets me select on monster that's in my graveyard and summon it back to the field in attack mode. Rise Chthonian Soldier!" The dark armored warrior reappeared on the field (1200/1400).

"But he won't be staying on the field for long, because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon Mefist the Infernal General!" Chthonian Soldier burst into pixels and then a dark armored, mounted horseman with a giant ax appeared (1800/1700).

"Now, attack his Sparkman!" His general charged forward and swung his axe, cutting Sparkman in half.

Chazz: 700  
Jaden: 2350

"And because my general inflicted damage, you have to discard a card from your hand." Chazz added and Jaden discarded a card. "I'll end my turn with that."

"Not bad." Jaden commented, looking at the mounted horseman in front of him.

"Not bad?" Chazz looked at him before continuing. "You're something else, you know that, slacker? Acting all confident, but your lousy monsters won't get you out of this jam."

"Wanna bet?" Jaden asked, drawing a card.

He looked at his cards and heard Winged Kuriboh call out to him, telling him to play him.

"Are you sure?" Kuriboh called an affirmative.

"Alright, I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode and end my turn." The winged furball came to the field (300/200).

Chazz drew his card. "I summon another Chthonian Soldier to the field in attack mode."

Another dark armored warrior appeared on the field (1200/1400).

"Next, I activate Monster Reborn and bring Reborn Zombie back from the grave in attack mode." A familiar decaying zombie reappeared on the field (1000/1600).

"Now, Chthonian Soldier, attack that furball!" Chazz ordered and his warrior attacked, destroying the smaller monster.

"Reborn Zombie and Mefist the Infernal General, attack Jaden directly!" He finished and his monsters went at Jaden.

Just as their attacks were about to hit, a gold shield appeared around Jaden and the attacks bounced off. "What the?! Why didn't my attacks go through?!"

"It's Winged Kuriboh's special ability," Jaden explained. "On the turn he's destroyed, I take no damage."

Chazz scoffed. "So, you last one more turn. It won't help you."

Jaden looked at the last two cards in his hand, before hearing Winged Kuriboh call out from the graveyard. _'I know he's wrong Winged Kuriboh, because you, me, and the rest of my monsters share a bond that Chazz can't hope to understand.'_

He drew his next card and smiled slightly. _'And speaking of bonds…'_

Before Jaden could make his move, Alexis turned to the entrance, thinking she had heard footsteps.

"What's up, Lex?" Eric asked his cousin.

When she confirmed she had she turned back to the group with wide eyes. "Uh, Guys! We've got company! Campus Security! If they find us all in here we'll get seriously busted!"

"What?" Syrus yelped.

"Why?" Bella asked, looking back at her. "I mean, we're all students here."

Alexis huffed and pulled out her PDA. "The rules say no off hour arena duels! Chazz knows that but lemme guess he didn't tell?"

Said Obelisk blushed at being found out.

"Why am I not surprised you're up to no good again?" Eric glared at Chazz, who returned it fully.

"C'mon, let's go!" The blue haired Obelisk leaned forward from he was watching, the other one looking scared at the thought of getting caught.

"Well, well, slacker, looks like you lucked out this time." Chazz said, turning to leave.

"This isn't over, Chazz." Jaden said seriously, turning off his duel disk.

"You're right, it's not." Chazz then hopped off the platform and walked out the arena.

Jaden wanted to say something else, but he didn't get the chance.

"Jaden, we gotta get out of here!" Bella called.

"Yeah, she's right." Alexis agreed, looking ready to bolt.

"Come on, let's go." Syrus urged even more.

"Yeah, I don't wanna get busted on the first day!" Azura added. "Heck, it isn't even the first day yet!"

"Alright, alright, I get it, we're going!" Jaden barked. "No one's going to get caught, so calm your butts down!"

With that Jaden got off the platform, following the others, turning the lights off on the way out. They were soon outside the main entrance.

"You certainly have a temper, Jaden." Alexis commented.

"Only when people freak over something that hasn't or won't happen." Jaden grumbled.

"Thanks for showing us the back way out, Alexis." Syrus said.

"Sure, I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your match with Chazz." The Obelisk female smiled.

"It's fine, I would have won anyway." Jaden replied casually.

"Really?" Alexis asked, Jaden turning to look at her. "No offense but from my point of view, it looked like it could have gone either way between you and Chazz before you guys stopped."

"Not after I drew this." Jaden showed her the card he had drawn before they had to make a run for it. It was the spell card Monster Reborn.

Alexis gasped and Jaden smirked. He would have summoned Flame Wingman back to the field and destroyed Mefist, taking Chazz out with it.

"Anyway, how'd you guys know I was here?"

"Bianca," Eric gestured to the silent Obelisk. "She saw you down by the water and heard the message Chazz sent you."

Jaden's heart almost went into his throat. If she had seen and heard that, then she also saw how he left.

" _Don't worry, Jaden. Your secret's safe with me."_ Came a feminine voice in his head.

He glanced over at Bianca, who gave a discreet smile. ' _How'd she know I can hear people's thoughts?'_

"Thanks. See ya." Jaden said, barely audible, and started walking back to the dorms.

"Hey, wait for us!" Syrus called, he and Bella trying to keep up.

"Next time, I'll duel Chazz and cast a hex on him!" Azura smirked. "Until then, bed time!"

After Azura left back to her dorm, Bianca bowed and started making her way back to the girl's dorm.

The cousins watched them all leave, smiling slightly.

"Zane came up with some good candidates for the new dorm." Eric said.

"This is going to be an interesting year." Alexis nodded.

 **And there's chapter two!**

 **Crystal: Wow, two updates in two days.**

 **Yeah. Anyway, read, review, and stay tuned.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter three!**

 **Eric: Wolf doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. She only owns this idea for a story.**

Chapter 3: Demon or Fallen Angel?

It was morning at Duel Academy and the start of classes. The seating chart was so that first years were toward the front and the higher grades were near toward the back. However, since the Obelisks did pretty much got whatever they wanted, it was more like Slifers at the bottom, Ras in the middle, and the Obelisks at the top.

Jaden was sitting next to Syrus up front with Chumley and Bella sitting behind him. Azura was sitting next to Bastion in the Ra section. Bianca was sitting in front of Alexis and Eric was sitting near Chazz and his flunkies.

Soon, everyone was seated and class began, the first one being Dr. Crowler, who started by quizzing them to see what they already knew about duel monsters. He had started by asking Alexis the different categories of monsters and their sub-groupings.

"Duel monster cards can be grouped into normal monster cards, fusion monster cards, ritual monster cards, effect monster cards, trap cards, and spell cards. Trap cards can be divided into normal traps, counter traps, and continuous traps. Spell cards can be separated into normal spells, continuous spells, equip spells, quick-play spells, ritual spells, and field spells." Alexis addressed the entire class.

"Perfect!" Crowler praised. "Well done, Alexis! Of course, I wouldn't have expected anything less from one of my blue Obelisks!"

' _Pompous idiot.'_ Jaden rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Dr. Crowler." Alexis responded as she sat back down.

"Hmm, now, who should we question next?" The doctor directed his attention toward the lower seats "You, Syrus Truesdale, please tell the class what a field spell is."

Syrus tried, but because of his test anxiety he just stuttered the whole time.

"If you can't answer a simple question like that then sit down." Dr. Crowler said after a few minutes.

After that, Syrus sat down, thoroughly embarrassed, much to the Jaden's anger, especially when some of the other Obelisks started laughing.

 _'What a jerk,'_ He thought. _'The whole class and faculty knows he was test anxiety! What's his deal?'_

A thought then crossed his mind. _'Wait, why do I care?'_

This was immediately silenced by a book slamming close quite loudly and a dark aura surrounding Eric.

"Problem up there?" Crowler turned in the direction of the commotion.

"Nothing, sir," Eric growled through clenched teeth. "I just find the inappropriate laughter at another student's obvious test anxiety to be very distracting."

"Ah, I see," Crowler responded, not quite getting the message, before returning to what he was just doing. "Now, can someone else answer that question, preferably not a Slifer."

"He's abusing his authority." Azura muttered, disgusted.

Bastion nodded in agreement with her.

Then, Jaden did something that he couldn't explain. He had started making a doodle of Crowler after that smart remark with Syrus. It showed the good doctor getting flattened by a piano with a caption saying 'Death to the cross-dresser'.

He made the odd decision to further mess with the teacher.

' _I think it's time the good doctor got a lesson in humility.'_ Jaden thought, when his masterpiece was done.

Then, he did something he never willing did. He called attention to himself.

"Hey, Doc! I found this drawing on the floor that looks like you getting flattened by a piano with the words 'death to the crossdresser' written on it!"

This caused Crowler to turn a lovely shade of red and the whole room was now busting a gut. Even the more mature of the class, Alexis and Bianca, were laughing.

 _'That's it!'_ Crowler thought in fury, looking at Jaden who had a smug look on his face. _'I won't tolerate this slacker any longer! It's time I get him removed from this school, permanently!'_

 _Next Class_

Thankfully, the next class was being taught by the Slifer headmaster.

"Hello class, my name is Professor Lyman Banner. I specialize in teaching some of the lesser known tactics of duel monsters, tactics that some might even call unnatural…"

While he was talking, Syrus leaned over towards Jaden, who was listening with genuine interest, and whispered, "Thanks for standing up for me, Jay."

Jaden glanced over at the other boy, and then looked away, feeling shy. "Yeah, whatever, no problem."

' _Why did I even do that?'_ He thought to himself, since it wasn't like him to get involved in things like that.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt something bump against his leg. He looked down and saw Professor Banner's cat, Pharaoh, looking up at him. Without another word, Jaden picked him up and set him on his lap.

 _"Aww, he's so cute!"_ Elemental Hero Knospe exclaimed, appearing beside Jaden.

 _"Shouldn't you be with your mother?"_ He asked.

Knospe pouted but vanished.

With that, Jaden returned his attention to the class. He had come across much of what the professor spoke of, such as duel alchemy, card creation, and mystical combos, while he was researching his… condition as he called it.

 _'Maybe with what I can learn in this class, I can find out more about this curse of mine. Maybe even a way to get rid of it.'_

Soon, class ended and everyone headed for their next classes. As they left, Banner's eyes fell on Jaden. Unknown to said Slifer, Professor Banner and Chancellor Sheppard were the only people at the school who knew about the thing that separated Jaden from the other students.

"Jaden, though you view your gift as a curse, you best learn how to control it. It may be the thing that saves your life in the future." He mused aloud, but it was unheard by the departing students.

 _Crowler's Office_

Since he didn't have a class for a while, Crowler was writing a letter with a feather pen and still fuming over what had happened earlier.

"How dare that slacker Jaden make a mockery of me in front of my class like that!" He grumbled, folding the letter and placing it in an envelope. "It'll be the last mistake he makes at this academy!"

He then picked up a mirror and started applying red lipstick to his lips. When he finished, he kissed that front of the letter where the folds met.

"Aah! The big kiss-off!" He laughed maniacally as he set to put his plan into action.

 _Gym Class_

Later, Jaden and Bella were in the gym with the other students for their next class with Fonda Fontaine, who was also the school's nurse and head of the Obelisk girl's dorm. They had changed into gym clothes and waited for the teacher to show up.

The rose duelist noticed that Syrus was nowhere to be seen. "Hmm? I wonder where Sy is?"

But she didn't have the chance to go look for him. The gym teacher, a woman with brown hair in a bun wearing gym clothes walked to the front of class.

"Hi everyone! My name is Fonda Fontaine and I'm your gym instructor for the semester! Are you ready to sweat?" She spoke in a perky voice.

Jaden got a look on his face that said 'kill me'.

Meanwhile, in the boy's locker room, Crowler was sneaking around while chuckling sinisterly.

"Now, to plant the bait where Jaden will be sure to find it." He said, searching the lockers for the one he thought was Jaden's. He believed he found it when he saw Jaden's boots at the bottom.

"Ah! His shoes!" He chuckled again, placing the letter on them and quickly left.

A few minutes later, Syrus came running into the locker room, trying to get his shoes off as he went.

"Lousy girl's gym!" He said. "They should make the signs bigger."

When he opened his locker, he noticed Jaden's shoes in it. "Hey, those are Jaden's sneakers. Oh, yeah, I was told we would be sharing a locker for a while."

He went to move his shoes, causing the letter on top to fall off. "Huh?"

Syrus picked up the letter to examine it. He instantly saw the lipstick mark.

"But this isn't Jaden's!" He gasped, before looking around to see if anyone was nearby. He then ducked between two sets of lockers to hide, so he could read the letter in semi-privacy.

"Someone wrote me a letter?! Wonder what it says," Syrus muttered opening the letter to read it. "Since the moment I first saw you, I've been… in love with you!? Meet me tonight behind the girl's dorm. Endearingly… Alexis Rhodes!?"

He actually fell backwards after reading that.

"Oh, this sure is a lot better than what my mom usually writes me…" Syrus said before slipping into a daydream about him and Alexis getting together.

"Oh, I'm yours!" He said with a dreamy look on his face.

 _Later that night, at the Slifer Dorm_

True to her word, Ms. Fontaine had definitely made them sweat. First they ran laps, then they split up for three way dodgeball.

Jaden had headed back to his dorm after classes were over to work on homework, eat dinner, and shower. He had just gotten back to his dorm after the third thing.

He then noticed something missing. "Where's Syrus?"

"Gonzo," Chumley said. "He just left, and it looked like he was in really good mood, too."

Jaden almost immediately got a bad feeling after that, and he wasn't sure why. But he was sure that tonight wasn't going to be quiet.

 _Obelisk Girl Dorm_

Meanwhile, Crowler, wearing a tight, black bodysuit, cut the lock to the girl's dorm off with bolt cutters and headed inside. He then dashed from bush to bush in a ninja fashion as a way to get closer to the windows, so he had better light to see but also couldn't be seen.

Meanwhile, inside, Alexis was talking with her friends.

"Hey, Alexis, you and Bianca want to chill out in the Obelisk wading pool?" A girl with brown hair, named Jasmine, asked her.

"No, thanks," She declined. "We'll wade and the guys will rage. I'm not in the mood for a game of tackle marco polo."

"Hello! Girl's dorm! No guys allowed, remember?" Her friend persisted, until Alexis finally agreed and went to get Bianca.

Meanwhile, Crowler had finally gotten into a position he liked to spring his trap.

"This will be perfect, thanks to that faux love letter that I wrote!" Crowler said gleefully, going over his plan again. "Jaden will show up looking for Alexis, but all he'll find is trouble instead! Once he arrives, I'll snap a picture of him. And then, I will have caught him red-handed breaking campus rules. He will be ruined!"

The wading room was all gold and kind reminded you of a Greek bathhouse. Alexis was talking with her friends about the day. Bianca was there, too, mostly just listening to their conversation. Soon, the subject of what happened in Crowler's class.

"Can you believe what that Jaden kid said to Dr. Crowler in class today?" Jasmine said. "He's got some nerve to talk to a teacher like that. "Found the picture on the ground" my foot! Completely disrespectful! What do you think, Alexis?"

"Actually, I thought it was kind of cool." Alexis said, in a kind of dreamy voice.

Bianca smirked, finding it admirable.

"What?!" Jasmine cried in shock. "Him, cool?!"

"He could be," the black haired girl, who's name was Mindy said. "If he had the talent to back up that talk maybe…"

Bianca gave them a look, like she was trying to tell them to stop acting like her brother.

"I think he just might," Alexis interjected. "Still, I won't know until I duel him myself."

"You…you would duel him?" Came a timid voice from behind them.

They turned to see a girl with red hair in big, yellow pajamas standing there with her towel, toothbrush, and toothpaste, looking really nervous.

"What's wrong, Anna?" Jasmine asked her.

"Oh, I don't know," The girl, called Anna, said, looking down and hugging herself slightly. "He's kinda scary."

"Scary?" Alexis asked, confused. "Jaden? I mean sure he has a bit of a temper, but Chazz has a habit of pushing people the wrong way."

"It's not that," Anna said, even quieter than before, if that was possible. "It's just that I heard some bad rumors about him."

"Rumors?" Mindy asked, confused like Jasmine.

"Yeah. I heard this rumor that he can make his cards come to life and inflict real damage," Anna spoke, shaking a little. "They say that he's some kind of demon and that his powers were the reason he was kicked out of several boarding schools before coming here."

The four girls were all shocked to hear about this.

Bianca wasn't as shocked as the others, but mainly because she hadn't heard the rumors until now. Now, she remembered what was going on with her brother during his duel with Jaden.

Anna had left a moment later, leaving them in a cold silence.

Before they could say anything, some girls shouting caught their attention. They had wrapped themselves in towels and found Syrus being tied up by other girls. This wasn't good.

 _A short time later_

"A love letter from Alexis?" Mindy asked after hearing Syrus' explanation. "You've got to be kidding."

After being seen, Syrus had been tied up and was know kneeling before the Obelisk trio, being interrogated. Jasmine and Mindy had changed into pajamas and Alexis and Bianca into their uniforms.

"Yep! Ask her!" Syrus replied with a giggle, giving Alexis a wink.

"Um, hello," Jasmine retorted. "Like Alexis is really tall, and you're really short. She's really good at dueling, and you're really not. She's really hot-"

"But it's true, just tell them, Alexis! I even have the note right here!" Syrus protested, pulling out the letter. "Look, see?!"

Jasmine took the note and the girls looked it over.

"Syrus, my name's not even spelled right there." Alexis said.

"Sorry, Syrus, but I think someone's yanking your chain here." Mindy said, but her tone said she wasn't sorry at all.

"So then you don't love me?" He asked.

"Hey, wait a second," Jasmine interrupted, looking over the letter again. "This note is made out to Jaden Yuki."

"What? Jaden?! But…" Before Sy could finish his protest, the brunette turned to him for him to see. Sure, enough, Jaden's name was at the top of the letter. "So, I can't even get a fake love letter."

"I'm sorry, Syrus…" Alexis apologized.

"Me, too."

"I don't buy it." Jasmine wasn't ready to let the matter go.

"What?" Mindy asked her friend.

"He could've written the note to have an excuse to come here!"

"What are you saying, that we should report him for trespassing then?" Mindy asked.

"But I was invited! I swear!" Syrus persisted, now panicking slightly.

"Girls, just what on earth is going on down there?" The girls looked up at the balcony to see Ms. Fontaine looking over the rail.

Alexis quickly took control of the situation. "Get down! Hurry!"

The girls, except for Bianca, pushed Syrus down and pretty much sat on him to hide him from view of the gym teacher.

"All right, what's up?" Ms. Fontaine asked suspiciously.

"You guys are heavy!" Syrus grumbled, squirming under the three girls.

"Beg your pardon!" Jasmine snapped.

"Maybe you're just brittle!" Mindy hissed.

"Gee, sorry, Ms. Fontaine," Alexis spoke to the Obelisk headmistress. "We'll make sure to keep a lid on things!"

"Well, I should hope so, it's nearly midnight, and I have pilates in the morning!" Miss Fontaine said before heading back to her room.

As soon as they were sure she was gone, they got off of Syrus.

"So, what now?" Jasmine asked.

"I'll tell you what now, girls…" Alexis answered, crossing her arms with a smirk. "I say we use Sy here as a kind of bait to find out what we were wondering about before. Just how good Jaden really is. And I think I know just how we can get him to show us his best!"

Bianca didn't like it, but she agreed to it. They needed answers and Jaden was the only one who give them.

 _Slifer Red Dorm_

Jaden was lying on his back on his bed, playing a handheld fighting game, but he wasn't really into it. He seemed to be playing it automatically, like he had played it a thousand times before…which he had.

Meanwhile, Chumley was already asleep on the top bunk.

As he beat the level he was on, his PDA went off, signaling he had a new message. Putting down his game, he picked up his PDA, wondering who would be calling him at this hour.

"We have your friend, Syrus. If you want him back, come to the girl's dorm, now. Alone." Then the message ended.

Jaden wasn't sure about this, but he knew that if he didn't do something there was going to be a problem. He got dressed, grabbed his deck and duel disk, and headed out.

 _Obelisk Girls Dorm_

Back at the scene of the incident, in the lake, Crowler came up for air after hiding for a while. He was shocked at the fact the wrong Slifer showed up, and even more shocked when the girls started screaming that a boy was on the grounds. Knowing that he had to get away, he dove into the lake.

"You try to expel one kid and the entire world turns against you!" He muttered.

He didn't see Jaden warp in behind and then vanish again. As stated before, his teleportation only works when he can tell where he's going. To get there faster, he warped to the main building and walked from there. It took him a bit, but when he got a sense of where to go, he did a few small jumps to get there.

Soon, he came to a stop off to the side of a group of five standing by a dock area. He recognized Alexis, Bianca, and Syrus, who was in the middle of the group with his hands bound. He didn't recognize the other two girls, since he hadn't met Jasmine and Mindy.

Jaden walked over to the group and got their attention. "Yo!"

The group jumped slightly before turning in his direction.

"Hi, Jaden…" Syrus greeted, glumly.

"So, what's this all about?"

"Well, uh," The shorter Slifer explained, embarrassed. "To make a long story short, I'm basically a big loser."

"Your friend here trespassed into the girls' campus!" Jasmine said angrily.

Jaden could tell she didn't like him, but didn't say anything to it.

"Really?" He glanced at his roommate.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Syrus interjected.

"And now that you're here, Jaden, you're trespassing, too!" Mindy added, ignoring Syrus and sounding like a total snob.

"That's right," Alexis said her challenge. "So if you don't want us to turn you in, you're gonna have to win your freedom by beating me in a duel right now!"

"But if you turn us in, we'll be expelled!" Syrus cried.

Jaden closed his eyes and sighed. Focusing, he did a mind-scan of all five people. He quickly got a sense of the situation and had a sneaking suspicion he knew who was behind this. He was also annoyed that they would take advantage of a situation because of some rumors.

What surprised him was that he couldn't read Bianca. It was like there was an impenetrable wall around her mind. But he didn't have time to think on that.

"You know, if you guys really wanted to test my skills, you could have just asked."

This got a jump from the group. How could Jaden have known about that?

"Also, I'm getting really tired of these late night duels. This could have waited until morning. If you want to see who can be crankier from lack of sleep, believe me, you will lose."

After ranting, he sighed and fixed Alexis with a tense stare. "However, since you're not giving me much of choice, then I accept. Let's duel!"

Said girl returned his stare.

Since Jaden had shown up "on foot", the duel was going to take place on a neutral stretch of land on the side of the lake. Syrus stood on Jaden's side, Mindy, Jasmine, and Bianca were on Alexis's side.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jaden." Syrus said, nervous.

Jaden didn't respond, he just continued his stare down with Alexis.

Crowler had gotten a little closer, but still far enough away that he wasn't seen. "Well, well, well. A Slifer versus an Obelisk! Put him in his place, Alexis!"

"Ready?!" Alexis called.

The hero duelist nodded.

"Duel!" Both players drew their opening hands.

Alexis: 4000

Jaden: 4000

Alexis's friends were watching in a mix of curiosity and disdain.

Syrus watched with mostly worry. "Here we go."

"All right! Let's see!" Alexis drew her sixth card. She looked over her hand and acted on a strategy.

"Etoile Cyber, rise!" A red-headed ballerina in an orange leotard appeared with pirouette (1200/1600). "And I'm also going to play one card face down!"

Jaden started his turn. "First, I'll play the spell card Double Summon, so I can normal summon two monsters this turn. So, I summon Elemental Heroes Knospe and Lady Heat in attack mode!"

The first hero was the one from earlier. She was a cute rosebud with two leaves on her back that look like either wings or a cape and rosebuds for hands. She also had blue eyes and a permanent blush on her cheeks (600/1000).

The other hero was female with blond hair and wearing a white bodysuit with a red and gold skirt and red handless gauntlets. Her blue eyes fixed Alexis with an intense stare (1300/1000).

"And since Knospe is on the field with another Elemental Hero, she's allowed to attack directly. Plus, she can't be targeted for an attack. Go, Knospe, attack Alexis directly." Jaden commanded.

Knospe giggled before launching some seeds at Alexis.

Alexis: 3400

Jaden: 4000

Alexis was blinked after the attack. ' _That was odd, I could have sworn I felt something.'_

"And when she deals battle damage, she gains 100 attack points but loses 100 defense points." Jaden added (600-700/1000-900).

"Now, Lady Heat, attack her Etoile Cyber!" Lady Heat nodded before conjuring some fireballs in her hands and firing them at the ballerina.

Alexis growled. "Hold it right there! I activate the trap card Doble Passe!"

The fireballs passed Etoile Cyber and struck Alexis, causing her to cry out in pain and be knocked down.

Alexis: 2100

Jaden: 4000

"Alexis!" Jasmine called while Mindy gasped.

Bianca and Syrus were surprised that Alexis was knocked off her feet by one attack.

Alexis was shocked that she actually felt pain from the attack. _'I was right, I did feel something! That actually hurt! But I can't let that get to me.'_

Jaden glared as Alexis got up and explained. "Doble Passe changes your monster's attack into a direct attack on me! And now, my monster, that you were about to attack, gets to wage a direct attack on you!"

"Great!" Jaden muttered.

"Oh, and when Etoile Cyber attacks someone directly, her attack points increase by 600." Alexis added.

Her monster danced and spun, and then roundhouse kicked Jaden in the ribs. However, he didn't even flinch, the only sign you could tell that Jaden had been hurt was the almost inaudible grunt he gave.

Alexis: 2400

Jaden: 2200

' _Jaden.'_ Syrus was worried about his roommate. Jaden usually looked distant, but right now he looked emotionless and down right cold.

"So, she was willing to sacrifice her own life points just to get at mine, huh?" Jaden murmured.

"So, you impressed?" Alexis asked.

"I'll admit that I am." Jaden responded, as he laid a face down.

"You're sweet. Too bad I have to crush you…" Alexis said before she was hit by a couple more of fireballs, knocking her off her feet in pain again.

Alexis: 1700

Jaden: 2200

"What the…?" Alexis groaned, getting back up.

"Lady Heat's special ability," Jaden explained. "You lose 200 life points for every Elemental Hero on my field."

Mindy then noticed something alarming. "Alexis! Your arm!"

Alexis looked down and saw what she was talking about. The skin on her left arm was red, like a sunburn. ' _Where did this come from?!'_

Jaden noticed what they were talking about and his cold facade slipped for a minute. ' _Oh, crap, my control slipped!'_

Alexis didn't dwell on her burn long and got back to the duel. She drew her next card.

"I play Blade Skater!" A bald, gray-skinned woman with an ice skate blade on each wrist appeared, skating on the water before joining her comrade (1400/1500).

"And I activate the spell card Polymerization to fuse Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater together to summon Cyber Blader!" Alexis's new monster had dark blue hair and light blue skin wearing an orange and white leotard and a pair of futuristic goggles over her eyes (2100-4200/800).

"Wait, what just happened?" Syrus asked confused.

Jaden growled, knowing what this was.

Alexis smirked. "Looks like you figure it out. It's one of Cyber Blader's special abilities. When my opponent has two monsters on the field, her attack points double. Now, Cyber Blader's more powerful than either of your monsters."

"In that case, I'll use this!" Jaden said, activating his face down.

The card had a picture of a glass tube with Burstinatrix being recharged with electricity surrounding the tube. "It's called Elemental Recharge. Now, I gain 1000 life points for every Elemental Hero on the field."

Jaden was then surrounded by a white aura as his life points increased.

Alexis: 1700

Jaden: 4200

"Alright, looks like you saved yourself this turn. Now, Cyber Blader, attack Lady Heat with Whirlwind Rage!" Alexis continued her move.

" _ **Ugh, I hate the graveyard."**_ Lady Heat muttered.

The monster went into a spin and headed towards Lady Heat. Her foot lashed out and destroyed her.

Syrus braced himself against the wind, but Jaden still didn't flinch and didn't say anything.

Alexis: 2400

Jaden: 1300

"Way to go, Alexis!" Mindy cheered.

"Yeah, you got him now!" Jasmine added. "Demon or not, I knew he was all talk!"

From where he was, Crowler was smirking at the turn of events.

Bianca, however, had a feeling Jaden was just getting warmed up.

Jaden had been ignoring the spectators up 'til then, but Jasmine's comment made him glare. He remained emotionless, but Bianca could clearly see the anger in his eyes.

"Be careful who you call a demon." He said in a deadly tone, causing the two Obelisk girls to become scared.

He drew his next card, starting his turn. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more cards."

He did so before continuing. "And now I activate Polymerization to fuse Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix together to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

The two heroes appeared briefly before fusing together so Flame Wingman could appear on the field (2100/1200) (2100-4200/800).

' _I have two monsters on the field again, so Alexis's monster is still too powerful,'_ Jaden thought, going over his hand again. ' _If I can get four monsters out on the field, then all of Cyber Blader's abilities would be neutralized. But I can't do that now, though I can still do one thing.'_

"Before you say, I know your monster's still too powerful, but it won't matter with this move. I activate Knospe's special ability and attack you directly." Knospe shot a few seeds at Alexis, causing her life points to drop.

Alexis: 1000

Jaden: 1300

"And now Knospe gains 100 attack points and loses 100 defense points. I'll place one card face down and end my turn." Jaden said (700-800/900-800).

Alexis growled and drew her next card. When she saw it, she smiled. "I could use this, but that would be overkill. So, I'll just settle for this. Go, Blader! Attack the Flame Wingman with Whirlwind Rage!"

Cyber Blader spun across the field towards Flame Wingman.

"I activate my trap, Hero Barrier! Since I have an Elemental Hero out, I can negate your monster's attack!" Jaden said.

A swirling barrier appeared in front of his monster, catching and stopping the attack.

"Looks like you saved yourself this time," Alexis said. "I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Now, it's my turn!" Jaden said, drawing a card. "I activate Card of Sanctity. Now, we both draw cards until we have six in our hands."

Both players drew the appropriate amount of cards.

When Jaden saw his, he hesitated for a second. When he used these cards, it felt harder to control his powers. However, if he used it, then Alexis wouldn't be able to use her facedown. He knew what he had to do.

"Looks like this duel's over." He said.

"And why would that be?" Alexis raised an eyebrow.

"You're about to find out. First, I activate De-Fusion to bring back Avian and Burstinatrix in defense mode." He said, as said heroes came onto the field.

"Jay, what are you doing?" Syrus asked, confused.

"When there are three monsters on the field, Cyber Blader negates the effect of all your spells, traps, and monsters. So, what was the point of that move?" Alexis asked as her monster powered down (4200-2100/800).

"Simple, none of Cyber Blader's abilities work if there are more than three monsters on the field and I'm about to bring the fourth one out." Jaden explained.

' _A fourth monster? Well, it'll have to have over 2100 attack points to beat my Blader, and if it does I have my trap to use. That should at least get me to the next turn to think of another plan.'_ Alexis thought.

"Time to end this. I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in defense mode." A blue and gold armored warrior appeared in a defensive crouch (1600/1400).

"And since I have four monsters on the field, you Cyber Blader's abilities are out of the game. This means I can activate the spell Dark Fusion!" Jaden held up a card that showed Burstinatrix and Avian holding hands, surrounded by yellow energy with a dark figure in the background.

"Dark Fusion?" The girls, minus Bianca, and Syrus asked.

"I fuse the Clayman in my hand with my Sparkman on the field in order to summon Evil Hero Lightning Golem!" Jaden said.

His eyes flashed gold briefly, but he didn't know that and who did thought it was a trick of the light from the lightning effects.

The two monsters fused together and a new monster took their place. It was a giant of green and purple armor with yellow lightning bolt shaped plates and lightning bolts on either side of his head. It had a blue helmet on its head, a large red orb in his chest, and two smaller orbs on the back of each gauntlet (2400/1500).

"Evil Hero? I've never heard of them." Alexis mused, before she noticed something else. ' _Wait a minute, did his eyes change color?'_

"They're rare." Jaden stated simply.

Alexis ignored the question in her head and looked at the stats of this new monster. ' _Good thing I have this trap, or I'd be done this turn.'_

Jaden watched Alexis, his eyes flickering to her face down. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to help her. "I activate Lightning Golem's special ability. I can destroy a monster on the field and guess who I pick."

Alexis covered her face with her duel disk as her Cyber Blader shattered.

"That's not all, Lightning Golem still has his attack to use, so I'll have him attack you directly," Jaden said. "Go, Dark Lightning!"

Alexis lowered her duel disk. "I activate my trap, Negate Attack!"

"Not a chance," Jaden countered. "On the turn Dark Fusion is used, the effects of all spells and traps targeting the monster summoned are negated."

Alexis gasped as her card was destroyed and she was struck by a burst of lightning. She screamed in pain, and the force from the blast nearly sent her flying, but she ended up only falling flat on her back.

Crowler was also not safe, since we all know what happened with electricity and water mix.

Alexis: 0

Jaden: 1300

"Alexis!" Jasmine and Mindy cried, running towards their friend.

"Is she okay?!" Syrus asked, running over to them.

Bianca was also worried about Alexis, but she was also worried about Jaden. He tried to hide it, but Bianca could clearly see that Jaden was afraid. He was afraid of his powers and afraid of himself.

Speaking of Jaden, he was experiencing that same fear right now. He knew it was going to be hard to control his power if he played those cards, but he didn't think it would be that bad.

After that, instinct just took over. He turned and ran, not wanting to be there anymore. He didn't care if they saw anymore, he teleported away.

When Alexis finally got to her feet, that's when they noticed Jaden was gone.

"Where'd Jay go?" Syrus asked.

"Who cares?! Look what he did to Alexis?!" Mindy cried.

"I'm going to get Ms. Fontaine!" Jasmine said, about to rush off.

"Jasmine, no!" Alexis stopped her.

"Alexis?!"

"I'm okay, these injuries are minor. They'll probably be gone in the morning. That aside, Jaden beat me in a duel fair and square, and that's all there is to it."

She looked to Syrus. "A deal's a deal, Sy, we'll keep quiet about what happened tonight. You should get going."

Syrus as still kind of in a daze, but he nodded and ran off.

' _Even if I did win I could never have turned those two in.'_ Alexis thought with a smile as they left. ' _I have the feeling that this is where Jaden needs to be.'_

Crowler had been stunned momentarily from the last attack, but when he recovered, he growled when he noticed that Jaden was gone and Syrus was leaving.

"Hmm! Lucky brat! He escaped this time, but I'll still find a way to expel him. After I find a way home." He then dived into the water to swim home.

 _With Jaden_

Jaden wasn't sure when and how he got there, but he was now at the spot where he had been the night before.

He was breathing hard, feeling out of breath from adrenaline and fear. Eventually, he dropped to his knees, still shaking.

"You knew that was going to happen!" He hissed at himself. "You knew full well what was going to happen if you played those cards! You knew you probably weren't going to be able to control it!"

When he calmed down a little, he sat back to try and even out his breathing. "But you had no other choice. Getting expelled was nothing new, but I didn't want to drag Syrus down with me. It wouldn't be fair to him."

After he said that, he looked down in the water at his reflection. He saw the loneliness he felt, but he knew that this was for the best. He had to keep people at a distance, he didn't want them to get hurt.

Jaden sighed. "It's getting late. Better go get what sleep I can so I can deal with the fallout in the morning."

With that, he got up and headed back to his room.

 **And that ends that chapter, along with the year. So, from all of us...**

 **Everyone: Happy Holidays! (And remember to drink responsibly)**


End file.
